Official 2015 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

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M2 here. Starting today, I am just going to be reviewing for Step 1 which I am taking next May, and nothing else. Here is my plan:

Oct 23-Dec 31: Memorize FA2014, Watch all of Pathoma
Jan 1-Jan 31: FA2015, Pathoma (pass 2), Kaplan QBank
Feb 1-Feb 28: FA2015 (pass 2), Pathoma (pass 3), USMLERX
March 1- March 31: FA2015 (pass 3), Pathoma (pass 4): UWorld
April 1- Mid May: FA2015 (pass 4), Pathoma (selective topics), UWorld (pass 2), all practice tests

Goal: High number
 
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MudPhud20XX said:
Hi all, hope the study is going well for everyone. I am almost done with my 2nd year and need to prepare for my shelf for path, pharm, and micro.
So anyone interested in doing Rx and UW quesitons from these 3 subjects over skype? Please PM me with your skype ID. I've done this with others and it was pretty engaging and productive.
Let me know.
Best,
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So am I right to assume that you will be starting 3rd year without a summer break buffer?
 
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Osteoclast, I'm basically in the same boat as you. Taking the exam on Tuesday, 2/24

About me: above-average student at a big 4 Caribbean school

Qbanks: finished both USMLE Rx and Kaplan Qbank by the end of 2nd year; both were done mostly subject based and averaged around ~62% I believe
Uworld - all done random, timed, unused.
1st pass - 61% correct. However, only finished about 60% of the Qbank before it expired, most of which was about 3-4 months ago
2nd pass - 76% correct. About 75% of the way through, I honestly remember very few of the questions from first pass

Materials: my two go-to resources are the pathoma book, and the becker pharmacology book by Dr. Lionel Raymon. Both, in my opinion, are excellent and cover much more than just path and pharm. FA I use for everything else. Every once in a while I use some of the other Becker books, but they're not as good as the Pharm book, and are overkill in my opinion. We got them free from my school, otherwise I would never have bought them.

NBME 16 - early nov - 217
NBME CBSE - mid nov - 84 (estimated 235. the national average is scaled to 70 with SD 8) issued through the school
mid nov-early jan - didn't do a damn thing
3 weeks ago - NBME 7 - 222
2 weeks ago - NBME 11 - 226
Last week - NBME 12 - 220 (BUMMED!...but on extended feedback I saw how many dumb mistakes I made)
Will take another NBME again tomorrow, and probably again next week plus the free 150.

My original goal was to score 240+, but I'm not sure how realistic that is now. Over 230 and I'll be pretty happy. Most interested in neurology at this point.

I'll keep the board updated with how it went. Good luck to all studying!
 
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Ost3oclast said:
Checking in everybody. I take step I in about a week! I had 7 weeks of dedicated study time. Went through FA 2x, pathoma 2x, a little over 1000 questions of Rx with an estimate of 225 and I just finished uworld with an average of 62%....not great but not bad.

My first nbme was a little crappy, just under 200. I've built that up and my last score is 224 according to the CBSSA scale. Taking nbme 16 on Sunday and then cram for a week!

Looking to get into neuro so I need a 210-230 on the real thing. Good luck to everybody here!
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Good luck!

seminoma said:
An extra 5-10 points that I can earn in that week is worth sacrificing a vacation 🙂
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Heh 10 points in one week is pretty optimistic; I think most of us would sign up for that if those results were guaranteed. That being said I think I'd go crazy without a break. M2 has been a grind, already booked tickets to somewhere tropical with the GF for right after I take it at the end of week 5. Either way, I'm sure you're gonna kill it.
 
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mcloaf said:
Good luck!



Heh 10 points in one week is pretty optimistic; I think most of us would sign up for that if those results were guaranteed. That being said I think I'd go crazy without a break. M2 has been a grind, already booked tickets to somewhere tropical with the GF for right after I take it at the end of week 5. Either way, I'm sure you're gonna kill it.
Click to expand...

Now there's a solid plan! Where to?
 
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mcloaf said:
Good luck!



Heh 10 points in one week is pretty optimistic; I think most of us would sign up for that if those results were guaranteed. That being said I think I'd go crazy without a break. M2 has been a grind, already booked tickets to somewhere tropical with the GF for right after I take it at the end of week 5. Either way, I'm sure you're gonna kill it.
Click to expand...

Yeah 5-10 is very optimistic lol. I'm just hoping that in the last week I can pickup a good bit of minutiae and to help raise the floor of my score a bit. I pay for school, living expenses, etc 100% with loans (no parents) so I don't have any money laying around to travel or do anything fun anyway. Might as well spend the week locking up a few more points.
 
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Mr. Mojo Risin said:
Now there's a solid plan! Where to?
Click to expand...

Hawaii!

Hoping it lives up to this:
kauai.jpg


seminoma said:
Yeah 5-10 is very optimistic lol. I'm just hoping that in the last week I can pickup a good bit of minutiae and to help raise the floor of my score a bit. I pay for school, living expenses, etc 100% with loans (no parents) so I don't have any money laying around to travel or do anything fun anyway. Might as well spend the week locking up a few more points.
Click to expand...

Hey man, what good is "free" money if you can't waste it?? 😉
 
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mcloaf said:
Hawaii!

Hoping it lives up to this:
kauai.jpg




Hey man, what good is "free" money if you can't waste it?? 😉
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Haha. Don't worry I won't tell the Feds 😉

Which island? Maui Wowie? I went to Maui with the family the summer before med school and had a blast. Perfect trip before the grind, and I'm sure it's just as good after two years of it!
 
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Mr. Mojo Risin said:
Haha. Don't worry I won't tell the Feds 😉

Which island? Maui Wowie? I went to Maui with the family the summer before med school and had a blast. Perfect trip before the grind, and I'm sure it's just as good after two years of it!
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Kauai. Supposed to be a super laid back and has good hiking apparently.
 
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lodestar said:
~~~~~~

You will do FINE! 🙂 :luck:

Is it right at a 3-week turnaround time? Our daughter tackles the Beast this Saturday...need to know how long we will all be in purgatory! 🤔
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Thanks! I sure hope so! Yes, 3-4 weeks. typically results are out on the 3rd wednesday!
 
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Hey gang,

I'm starting my dedicated period. Tried the kaplan diagnostic 150, got 54% correct. Am I screwed? I did about 1/3 of rx during the school year and averaged around 70%. Really worried right now.
 
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asdf1192 said:
Hey gang,

I'm starting my dedicated period. Tried the kaplan diagnostic 150, got 54% correct. Am I screwed? I did about 1/3 of rx during the school year and averaged around 70%. Really worried right now.
Click to expand...

I imagine that if I did an NBME baseline a week before dedicated I would do awful. I'd use it as motivation to start working hard... A lot of that stuff you haven't seen in forever. Start a couple weeks of dedicated and see if you improve in an NBME.

Did you find yourself saying "Damn, I use to know that" a lot? That's how I feel when I rummage through random Rx questions.
 
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Kapooya said:
I imagine that if I did an NBME baseline a week before dedicated I would do awful. I'd use it as motivation to start working hard... A lot of that stuff you haven't seen in forever. Start a couple weeks of dedicated and see if you improve in an NBME.

Did you find yourself saying "Damn, I use to know that" a lot? That's how I feel when I rummage through random Rx questions.
Click to expand...

I would be scared if I went through it and was thinking that I had never seen any of the stuff before haha. Refreshing is way easier than learning something completely new.
 
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Update: Finished UW with 70% on random timed tutor. Writing NBME 11 sometime this week. Really hoping for 230+. I still have 5 weeks.

Deciding whether or not to redo a bunch of my incorrect UW first before doing the NBME or skim through a chunk of FA. Does anyone have a recommendation which to do first?
 
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Rreceived my score yesterday - 246 (took it on Jan 27).
Not happy, but relieved. Did 2x Pathoma, grandaddy Goljan audio lectures + pieces of rapid review pathology, some Kaplan vids, uworld (73%), kaplan qbank after that (82%), uworld again after kaplan(92% - retrospectively shouldn't have done it, made me doubt myself and overthink my answers).
 
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ubipus said:
Rreceived my score yesterday - 246 (took it on Jan 27).
Not happy, but relieved. Did 2x Pathoma, grandaddy Goljan audio lectures + pieces of rapid review pathology, some Kaplan vids, uworld (73%), kaplan qbank after that (82%), uworld again after kaplan(92% - retrospectively shouldn't have done it, made me doubt myself and overthink my answers).
Click to expand...

That's a great score! Excellent work!
 
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ubipus said:
Rreceived my score yesterday - 246 (took it on Jan 27).
Not happy, but relieved. Did 2x Pathoma, grandaddy Goljan audio lectures + pieces of rapid review pathology, some Kaplan vids, uworld (73%), kaplan qbank after that (82%), uworld again after kaplan(92% - retrospectively shouldn't have done it, made me doubt myself and overthink my answers).
Click to expand...
What would you say you would not have done? What made you overthink your answers??
 
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PIacebo said:
What would you say you would not have done? What made you overthink your answers??
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I shouldn't have done usmle world second time, as I didn't learn anything new in a week that I finished it plus it made me really anxious and I didn't trust my gut on the exam day and on top of that I felt like my brain was an over-saturated mess from doing 7 blocks/day. I got wrong at least 10 straightforward questions by doubting myself and changing the answer last second. Example: Kegel exercise goal(had a woman with incontinence to whom the doctor has explained how to do the exercise), I first chose pubococcygeus muscle strengthening - correct answer, but then decided that the question was too simple and chose detrusor muscle over that (stupid thing to do, as detrusor doesn't have any skeletal muscle plus it's not part of the pelvic diaphragm). I know it's my fault and Uworld has little to do with it, but still I think uworld is a good tool to make you work through the stem and find the correct answer and the reasons you got the question wrong, rather then learning all the details that are in it. I shouldn't have done so many blocks/day last week before the exam (maybe once a week before the exam). I was trying to work on my stamina, but in the end it only made feel exhausted.
I should have worked on my weak areas such (Biostatistics, BS, nutrition and genetics that last week), I hoped I wouldn't get much questions in these subjects, but I did and screwed them up according to the score report (entered borderline zone).
 
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ubipus said:
I shouldn't have done usmle world second time, as I didn't learn anything new in a week that I finished it plus it made me really anxious and I didn't trust my gut on the exam day and on top of that I felt like my brain was an over-saturated mess from doing 7 blocks/day. I got wrong at least 10 straightforward questions by doubting myself and changing the answer last second. Example: Kegel exercise goal(had a woman with incontinence to whom the doctor has explained how to do the exercise), I first chose pubococcygeus muscle strengthening - correct answer, but then decided that the question was too simple and chose detrusor muscle over that (stupid thing to do, as detrusor doesn't have any skeletal muscle plus it's not part of the pelvic diaphragm). I know it's my fault and Uworld has little to do with it, but still I think uworld is a good tool to make you work through the stem and find the correct answer and the reasons you got the question wrong, rather then learning all the details that are in it. I shouldn't have done so many blocks/day last week before the exam (maybe once a week before the exam). I was trying to work on my stamina, but in the end it only made feel exhausted.
I should have worked on my weak areas such (Biostatistics, BS, nutrition and genetics that last week), I hoped I wouldn't get much questions in these subjects, but I did and screwed them up according to the score report (entered borderline zone).
Click to expand...
Congratulations on the great score!
Do you mind sharing your nbme scores if you have taken any ?! Thanks.
 
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And what would you recommend for nutrition/Genetics? Would Goljan 2 chapters be enough to cover the high yield points?
 
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Navatek said:
And what would you recommend for nutrition/Genetics? Would Goljan 2 chapters be enough to cover the high yield points?
Click to expand...
Thanks! I did a bunch of NBMEs, here are my scores:
NBME 16 (for baseline) - 211, 12 weeks out
NBME 15 (shouldn't have done it so soon) - 215, 10 weeks out
Finished uworld after that (5 weeks out) - 73%
UWSA 1 - 260, 4 weeks out
UWSA 2 - 262, 2 weeks out
NBME 13 - 243, 1 week out (really freaked me out, although I've read some people say that UWSA overestimates your score by 20 points), still decided to go ahead with the exam and pray for mercy. I probably should have done the NBMEs in reverse order by starting with NBME 13.
Freid usmle - got 92% correct on the day before the exam, was very easy compared to the real exam (very short question stems). Went through it just to make myself comfortable with the interface.

For Genetics and Nutrition Goljan Rapid review should be enough. I would also advice to go through Environmental section if you have time, it's short and can give you some extra points for stuff that you can't find in FA.

Best of luck!
 
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Thank you very much! Good to know that nbme scores are back with their predictive value.
Best of luck with the rest of your exams!
 
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ubipus said:
Thanks! I did a bunch of NBMEs, here are my scores:
NBME 16 (for baseline) - 211, 12 weeks out
NBME 15 (shouldn't have done it so soon) - 215, 10 weeks out
Finished uworld after that (5 weeks out) - 73%
UWSA 1 - 260, 4 weeks out
UWSA 2 - 262, 2 weeks out
NBME 13 - 243, 1 week out (really freaked me out, although I've read some people say that UWSA overestimates your score by 20 points), still decided to go ahead with the exam and pray for mercy. I probably should have done the NBMEs in reverse order by starting with NBME 13.
Freid usmle - got 92% correct on the day before the exam, was very easy compared to the real exam (very short question stems). Went through it just to make myself comfortable with the interface.

For Genetics and Nutrition Goljan Rapid review should be enough. I would also advice to go through Environmental section if you have time, it's short and can give you some extra points for stuff that you can't find in FA.

Best of luck!
Click to expand...
Thanks for the good information and summary of your experience. So are you saying that the NBME's are in some sort of ranked difficulty?
 
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CR7MedStudent said:
Thanks for the good information and summary of your experience. So are you saying that the NBME's are in some sort of ranked difficulty?
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No, I think all of NBMEs are within the same range of difficulty, it's just that I started with newer forms (which supposedly have more recent test type of questions) and and used them up when I wasn't even close to ready and relied solely on UWSA score prediction in my dedicated prep time. I should have done the other way around by using UWSA before uworld for baseline and NBMEs closer to the end.
 
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Update:
NBME 11 offline ~ 230 (Today)
UW - 70% random (finished few days ago)
NBME 7 offline ~ 210 (first week January)
USMLE Rx - 75% subject (finished end December)
I say ~ scores for offline NBME's because who really knows what is correct/incorrect on the student made answer keys

Goal: 240+ w/ 4 weeks to go.
Plan:
Week 1 - UW incorrects/flagged, read 2 chapters of FA/day, one of the UW exams
Week 2- UW incorrects/flagged, finish reading FA, NBME 15
Week 3 - Pathoma again, second UW exam, re-read FA, NBME 16
Week 4 - Review weak topics and high yield stuff (according to DIT)

Can anyone please provide feedback on the plan? Thanks 🙂
 
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NoLollipops4U said:
Update:
NBME 11 offline ~ 230 (Today)
UW - 70% random (finished few days ago)
NBME 7 offline ~ 210 (first week January)
USMLE Rx - 75% subject (finished end December)
I say ~ scores for offline NBME's because who really knows what is correct/incorrect on the student made answer keys

Goal: 240+ w/ 4 weeks to go.
Plan:
Week 1 - UW incorrects/flagged, read 2 chapters of FA/day, one of the UW exams
Week 2- UW incorrects/flagged, finish reading FA, NBME 15
Week 3 - Pathoma again, second UW exam, re-read FA, NBME 16
Week 4 - Review weak topics and high yield stuff (according to DIT)

Can anyone please provide feedback on the plan? Thanks 🙂
Click to expand...

I would recommend doing NBMEs online, since you can't actually score yourself on the "offline" version. Each of those forms has a unique trend and you can't predict your scores based on number of correct/incorrect answers. UWSA tests do not predict your test score accurately (my real score was 14(UWSA1) and 16(UWSA2) points below what UWSA predicted). DIT is a piece of cr*p, don't waste your time on it. The real assessment of your weak areas is done by NBME, which is also why you should do it online.
 
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ubipus said:
I would recommend doing NBMEs online, since you can't actually score yourself on the "offline" version. Each of those forms has a unique trend and you can't predict your scores based on number of correct/incorrect answers. UWSA tests do not predict your test score accurately (my real score was 14(UWSA1) and 16(UWSA2) points below what UWSA predicted). DIT is a piece of cr*p, don't waste your time on it. The real assessment of your weak areas is done by NBME, which is also why you should do it online.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I should have mentioned I meant doing NBME 15/16 online as I know how inaccurate offline ones are since students come up with their best guesses for some of the answers. I have read a ton about UWSA overpredicting by at least 10, so hopefully I can get in the high 240s/low 250s on them to reach my goal of 240. Also, for DIT I just meant read the topics in FA they designated as high yield .I should have been more clear.
 
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Anyone expecting their score this Wednesday? If so has your step 1 permit disappeared and when did you sit for your exam?
 
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I'm hoping to get my score this Wednesday, but my permit hasn't disappeared yet, so who knows. I took my exam on 2/6, which was a Friday

Update: my permit disappeared this morning, so I guess I will be getting my score this week!
 
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Quick question about when scores come out... I'm heard it is three weeks from the Wednesday after your exam, but what if you are taking your exam on a Wednesday? Is it three weeks from that day, or 4? Thanks.
 
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bigdogrob4284 said:
Quick question about when scores come out... I'm heard it is three weeks from the Wednesday after your exam, but what if you are taking your exam on a Wednesday? Is it three weeks from that day, or 4? Thanks.
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If you write on WED, THR, FRI, the scores are back by 3rd Wednesday. If you write on SAT, SUN, MON, TUES, the scores are back on the 4th Wednesday.
 
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